Cisneros has to be reminded who paid airfare for trip: taxpayers

City Council members were grilled by WOAI Troubleshooter Mireya Villarreal about their travel expenses on a segment that aired Monday night; many went far over their annual $4,750 allotment.

And while she wasn’t the worst offender by dollar amount, District 1 Councilwoman Mary Alice Cisneros was the only council person who needed a gentle reminder that she had not, in fact, paid for one trip out of her own pocket.

“I didn’t put in for any expenses for that trip,” to Monterrey, Mexico, the councilwoman told Villarreal. (You can watch the story here) “My husband and I paid for all our expenses.”

When Villarreal produced a reimbursement form for $571, Cisneros was dismissive. “Well I’m sure that it was just for airfare,” she said.

Cisneros overspent her annual travel allowance by about $4,000, far less than other council members, according to the report. Delicia Herrera spent about $15,000, slightly more than half of that on a trip she took with the mayor to India.

Sheila McNeil, the lone council member to fly on taxpayers’ dime to President Obama’s inauguration — withering pubilc criticism forced Herrera to pay her own way — spent almost as much, about $14,000, in 2008, including an almost $6,000 trip to Spain.

Fellow mayoral hopeful Diane Cibrian also went to Spain, and you gotta hand it to her, she had a way better answer about why taxpayers should foot the bill than the lame “they’re a sister city” line other council members trotted out.

She told Villarreal that her work investigating that country’s alternative power sources could ultimately save taxpayers more than the cost of her trip.

Guess we’ll have to wait and see on that one.

All in all, Villarreal reported that the council spent $85,000 on travel in 2008.